Advice and Wisdom for Newbie - CRT-P 101

😁🌺

by Lavender - 2024-02-25 20:32:07

What advice would you share to help help the hospital / returning home process go smoothly?

Get a small pillow to lean into when you go to sleep.

Have Tylenol on hand-I was told to take 650 mg four times a day but only did it one or two days.  

If you come home in a sling, only use it a day or two then just keep your elbow lower than the shoulder on the pacemaker side.

I took an old bra, cut the strap off and resewed it to the bra cup closer to the arm pit to wear while healing.

Front closure top not a slip over one is best to come home from the hospital and for a week or so.

I bought a fake lambs wool seat belt pad at Walmart on the recommendation of this site😉 I still use it three years later.

I was allowed to drive in one week-after the one week wound check at the doctor.

Have some soft ice packs in the freezer to use when you get home.

My BF took over household chores but if I didn't have him, I wouldn't have worried about vacuuming or making the bed for a few days.  Your hubby can help.😜

Use your other arm to walk your dog! Your hubby can help☺️

Hair washing-I sat in a shallow tub and washed myself with my right arm being careful not to wet my incision site. I washed hair with one hand, leaning way forward as I sat in the tub.  I rinsed with the hand held shower head -again leaning way forward. I kept a towel around my neck and covering the incision area.  Your hubby can help.🤣 If you lean over enough you actually can wash your hair using both hands and still keeping the elbows below the shoulders.

You won't have to milk the situation. Your hubby loves you and will coddle you. 😆 just like usual 😉 and just the way you always spoil him😂

after implant

by new to pace.... - 2024-02-25 20:37:59

I slept in a recliner until at least the stiches came out.  See you you feel.  Of course you will need someone to drive you home.  I did not stay overnight.

The doctor/ nurse will give you instructions as to what you can and cannot do.

Even though you will not be allowed to raise your arm(the side of the i implant) above your shoulder .  Do not wear the sling more then one night. Do keep  your arm  moving  as you do not want a frozen shoulder.   No weight lifting for a while.  Only pick up  about 5 lbs. with that arm.  Use the other would be just fine.

new to 

i washed my hair bent over  the kitchen sink, to make sure i did not get my incision wet, until the stiches came out. 

Housecleaning nothing wrong with using your other arm.  This might be a good time for you husband to learn.

Do stock up on your favorite foods before, then you will not have to worry about driving.

If you can go without a bra do so. Button front  blouse is good. They gave me a prescription pain pills, which i did not take.  Did not have a lot of pain, Tynenol works if that is something you can take.

 Am sure the others will give you more suggestions.

new to pace

Oh yeah

by Lavender - 2024-02-25 21:58:43

They make a bra called balconette.  The straps are wider apart. The didn't buy one because I refashioned my own to keep the strap off my incision. You can get by with just pushing the strap to the edge of your shoulder off the incision. 

after implant

by Julros - 2024-02-26 00:14:42

Lots of good advice, I concur about spare ice packs, sleeping in recliner, front closure top. I wore the strap of my bra under my affected arm for several weeks. I have very long, thick hair and hair washing was a challenge. And I had a great deal of pain, likely due to a hematoma. I made one visit to a hair dresser for a wash and blow out, and it was wonderful. For my first implant I was not supposed to get dressing wet, so they advised me to get Glad Press and Wrap to cover the wound. For implant #2, I was instructed to remove dressing 24 hours after procedure, which made life much easier. 

I didn't even take the sling home after implant #2. Both times I drove short distances the day after getting home. My implant is on my right side, so I had no issues with seat belt. 

My hubby and I share household duties, so he took care of anything that I needed both arms for. 

Julros, Lavender and New to Pace - Thanks!

by Andiek11 - 2024-02-26 08:49:28

Starting my check list with your collecive suggestions.  For the record, my hubby is a great guy who will take care of whatever is necessary - including cooking and cleaning. I just wasn't sure how long under "normal circumstances" and to what degree I might expect to be really, really limited.  From your posts, assuming no real problems, I should be pretty funcional for basic ADLs in a few days, (Current plan is for the inplant to be on right side because of left mastectomy and risk of lymphadema on left side)  Yep, I'm learning that there will be certain limitations that will go on for up to 3 months to ensure optimal implantation of the leads into the heart muscle.  I can adjust.

Julros I have ro laugh at the "Press N Seal" use because I also already use that stuff in so many non-traditional ways around the house that what the heck is one more! *haha*

One additional question, Did any of you get a set of "grabbers" to get items off of taller shelves / cabinets while you were healing? Ovekill?

over kill

by new to pace.... - 2024-02-26 08:57:52

I have a grabber which i use for that purpose and other hard to reach places.  Such as bending over to pick items off the floor.  Sometimes  I even use it in the yard to pick up twigs etc. After trimming in the spring.

That said while  you are healing if you might just put what you usually use are the counter if in the kitchen.  Just to make sure you do not reach with the wrong arm. 

new to pace

👋🏼

by Lavender - 2024-02-26 09:49:08

No grabbers for me. I am under 5'2". I do stand on stools if need be. 
 

 Here's a thought:  many people ...including me...get their pacemakers as a surprise emergency so we had no advance preparation. One day you don't have a pacemaker and you end up in the ER and come home with one. I always have soft ice packs in the freezer, Tylenol on the shelf and bras.  Lol. Losing two of those to being cut and resewn by hand to widen the straps was no biggie. I threw them out once my incision site healed and am fine with regular bras now.
 

I slept in bed with my BF as usual because sleeping in a recliner causes me back problems and sciatica. Once I even bent my tailbone sleeping slumped over in a recliner and had to go to physical therapy to straighten it out.
 

To sleep, I tucked up with three pillows. I still do. One pillow is under head, a long body pillow to lie beside between my legs, and my small pillow to cushion my pacemaker keeps me secure.  I had no pre planning and didn't go out for anything except the seat belt pad which was purchased weeks later. 
 

Some folks here went right to work the next day or in a few days. I was retired so I didn't have to work. I would say I took it easy a few days but by the time of my wound check a week later, I was asking the cardiologist when I could get a massage (six weeks) and have intimate relations (one week from implant -but not with me on top because she didn't want me supporting myself with my arms for a while ).

Most of us inadvertently did lift high for something and were horrified -but not harmed at all. I recall about two weeks in reaching to a high shelf then remembering that I should've not done that.  No harm. 
 

I physically had some arm pain, neck pain, back pain and occasional nerve type shocks and "ant bite" sensations for about seven months.  Worse was my mental adjustment to the idea of being artificially kept alive by a battery. I was so disappointed in my body failing me, my heart reaching its expiration date. It took time to ponder all that but now I forget about it. I'm living. Thank God for the invention of CRT-Ps! 
 

You have been through so much worse! My gosh you could teach US how to cope with cancer and a masectomy and reconstruction!  That's big stuff. You will be totally fine. 

CRT-advice.

by Aberdeen - 2024-02-27 16:38:08

A great deal of useful advice here. The only thing I thought I would mention was that I wore strapless bras and when I healed I put on the detachable straps that came with it. Even now a few years later, I too prefer a balconette bra as I don't like a strap over my pacemaker.

Thanks to all!

by Andiek11 - 2024-02-28 13:30:28

I am truly appreciative that I have the luxury of advanced notice and planning for my CRT-P.  I've been down the other, "Suprise!  We need to move now" path with other issues in life so I'm sure that all of you that followed that trajectory with your devices was not an easy one mentally or emotionally.  But you all made it, as did I:)    

And thanks again for everyone's advice and counsel.  I'm sure your words will help.

Godspeed!

by Lavender - 2024-02-28 16:36:43

When's your surgery scheduled?

And the answer is.....

by Andiek11 - 2024-02-28 20:29:22

STILL waiting to hear from scheduling.  I can see from my chart that the procedure has been approved and sent to scheduling - that was last Friday.  And from my chart I can see I'll be getting a Medtronics CRT device - don't know specific model - and that they're leaving enough time to try to do the sub-pect placement with a general anesthetic.  I will also be staying overnight which I'd already been told because of the placement and anesthetic.  However, WHEN will I be staying overnight?????   Dunno. (lol)  And honestly that's its only mini version of hell. (Can we please get on with what is now working towards a year long journey???)  Regardless I'm listed as "first available" which last I heard problably won't be until April.  (arrrrrrrrrgh!)  I know that it's good that this is not an urgent need, but now that the decision has been made I just want to get it over with.  (Yep, some of us are never happy *hhahahaha*)

The waiting game

by Lavender - 2024-02-28 22:07:41

Geez what a journey you've been on! I'm impressed with the amount of information you're getting from your chart!

Yeah I guess knowing what you're headed for is good in terms of preparing but then again when it's a surprise pacemaker, you don't have time to worry in advance. 🤪

My heart stopped during gallbladder surgery in 2019. I was told then that I would need a pacemaker one day. But then my heart recovered on its own so nobody moved forward. Nine months later, I started randomly fainting. That went on for another six months before a heart monitor finally caught my rare arrhythmia of Ventricular standstill.  I finally got a pacemaker in 2021. In hindsight, I would've rather had the pacemaker placed after the gallbladder surgery scare. It would have saved me months of fearful drop attacks in stores and other places. It would have saved me tests and visits to six different specialists trying to figure out why I was fainting🙄

Can't go back only forward, so we do what we know to do at the time. It's good that your need for a pacemaker isn't life threatening. 

Lavender - What a journey you've had

by Andiek11 - 2024-02-29 10:38:40

Yep, can only move forward.   

Truth be told, I was told 26? 27? years ago when they first discovered the LBBB that eventually I would need a pacemaker.  And I remember wondering well why not just place one now and avoid the "rush" later?  But I never actually verbalized and in the ensuing quater century none of my docs even brought up the LBBB unless I did.  So once every decade or so I'd bring it up, go see a cardiologist and get an echo or stress test or whatever, then told, "have a good life."

So this time around I asked my PCP to refer me to a cardiologist and she did after ordering an echo that showed same old, same old.  It then took 12 weeks to get an appt w/ the cardiologist (well the one I wanted to see that is... *lol*).  Then another 13 weeks to get the get the Cardiac MRI and heart monitor.  Then after the MRI I had to continue useless meds for at least another 2 months or insurance wouldn't pay for the CRT-P.  (Don't you hate when insurance dictates one's medical treatment???  Happens all the time.. sigh).  And so here I now sit, about 11 months since I asked my PCP for cardiac referral, and 27 years since this adventure began.  And NOW, I'm impatient.   *hahahaha*  Perhaps I have a longer fuse than I ever imagined. ;)

Yep, you can only move forward. :)

Sounds familiar

by Lavender - 2024-02-29 11:12:41

In 2010 I was told that I have LBBB. It was accidentally discovered when I had a muscle spasm. A cardiologist told me no worries-it was intermittent and ignore it. Of course nine years later, the anesthesia of surgery stopped my heart. So I didn't get a CRT-P for 11 years after knowing about the LBBB. 
 

Yes I hate insurance companies choosing our medical care. 🙄😵‍💫I am not on any meds, but since my arrhythmia was so elusive, they thought it wasn't the heart at first. Meanwhile the stupid insurance company paid for six specialists to try and figure out why I was fainting. I was poked and tested all over including by a neurologist, endocrinologist, nerve and muscle specialist, a vestibular specialist, and others. It was nice to find out nothing was wrong but wasted months while I got more and more anxious about fainting.  

Until they actively caught my ventricular standstill on a heart monitor, no one would move forward with a pacemaker. Once they saw it, it was an emergency. 🫢Well duh, I was dropping over with heart pauses for months!  I had two near death experiences. The last pause was 33 seconds. Finally they okayed the device. 
 

The insurance only okayed a 24 hr monitor initially. That was in November 2020. Of course it caught nothing and my stress test and echo were perfectly normal.  I had to fight to get a thirty day monitor.  FINALLY ten days into wearing it, I dropped dead on my livingroom floor. My BF thought my death rattles were choking so he inadvertently restarted my heart with a punch to the back. It was a sort of precordial thump which brought me back from an ethereal pleasantly blissful near death experience. I was kind of mad at him for bringing me back. 
 

I realized that I am blessed the arrythmia was found. The cardiologist says sometimes this goes on for years without them finding it. Sometimes people die without anyone ever locating the electrical problem.